PureFlint

Inspiration

PureFlint was inspired by the potential for technology to empower people to improve their communities. In a city of over 100,000 people, Flint has yet to submit a plan for daily monitoring of water quality. With rapid treatment plans and short term solutions being put in place, it is now more important than ever to properly track the city's progress and to empower community members with a platform for reporting their lead water and providing a means for government officials to respond.

What it does

PureFlint is a platform and iOS application for reporting and visualizing data on lead in Flint's water supply to keep communities safe and aware of the issue. Through providing community members with training modules on how to install filters and test water safety while providing them with a means to share data, communities can be better prepared to respond to problems before they cause serious health issues in their population.

How we built it

The REST API was built using laravel, and the user-interface was built using a native iOS/Swift application. Sample data was retrieved using recent water testing data generated by the State's Public Health Department. Google API's were used to verify, validate, and organize data.

Challenges we ran into

A major challenge was designing an application that simplifies a complex problem. Furthermore, it was challenging to use GIS data paired with addresses to generate heat maps and interesting data visualization tools for users.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of designing a platform that is near production ready. Simplifying a complicated problem so that communities can be empowered to make well-informed decisions as well as receive the training needed to better support their neighborhoods is a very satisfying experience.

What we learned

A lot was learned about GIS and data visualization tools.

What's next for PureFlint

We plan to push the platform to production and release the application to the public to begin visualizing and reporting data!